"If people have access to knowledge, they will make intelligent decisions."

— Françoise Mukamuligo

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Let Us Fight Ignorance

Teaching Parents and Children About Reproductive Health to Fight Teen Pregnancy

ISSUE:
Approximately 40% of families in Byimana have a young person who has had an illegitimate child. The root cause of this problem is the lack of knowledge about reproductive and sexual health. One of the primary causes is the culture of silence around sex, which prevents parents from talking to their children or a lack of knowledge about reproductive health issues among parents. There are many negative effects: unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, STDs, women having many children, husbands who blame their wives when a daughter gets pregnant which can also be a trigger for family tension and domestic violence, the rejection of daughters by their fathers, grandmothers taking on responsibility for child care, and single-parent households. All of these consequences exacerbate poverty.

SOLUTION:
Let Us Fight Ignorance is working to increase the understanding of reproductive and sexual health among children and parents by holding trainings, debates and plays to encourage parents to talk to their children about sex. Their goals are to:

  • Reduce by 75% the number of illegitimate children born in the health center after 1 year
  • Reduce family conflicts caused by these problems by 80%
  • Measured through interviews, 100% of people who attend the training and 80% of people who attend the theaters will know how to protect themselves from HIV and STDs
  • 80% of parents talk to their children about sex after 1 year

IMPACT:
Let Us Fight Ignorance is working to conduct three training programs and debates with 300 parents and children and perform three plays in 9 cellules throughout the Byimana Sector. The team has established a partnership with the health center of Byimana, which provided HIV and reproduction health teaching materials, and their first training reached 287 people out of their targeted 300. The team raises funding for their theater program by selling tea at government trainings held at the nearby sector office building.

Project Details

Let Us Fight Ignorance

Grant Amount: $2860
Team Size: 10 Members
Social Impact: 300 Families


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